David and Solomon
King David proved to be a wise and effective leader for Israel. However, it can be said that his son, Solomon, made several mistakes during his reign. Many of his problems originated from his Temple, a stucture that was conceptualized by his father to be a deterrent against the paganism, which infested the land. Yet, it seemed as if several of Solomon’s policies actually encouraged paganism rather than deter it.
King David, a member of the tribe of Judah was chosen by God to lead his people. As everyone knows, he proved by his wise choices to be a very effective leader. As a great military strategist David united the tribes and extended the national boundaries so that in his time Israel enjoyed a greater fraction of the land promised to Abraham than has ever since been the case. David ruled as king for seven years and Hebron, then established his throne in Jerusalem after overcoming the ancient Jebusite community there. His reign continued there in Jerusalem for the next 32 years. Secure on his throne and dwelling in a magnificent palace of cedar and stone, David began to be concerned that he, the visible king, dwelled in a magnificent house, but the invisible King of kings still dwelt in an aging temporary tent, the Tabernacle of Moses. At first the prophet Nathan gave David approval to construct a temple, but the following night God intervened. Speaking to Nathan in a dream God laid out for David an amazing covenant whose promises continue to this present day. God committed himself to establishing the house of David forever, to a specific land and people ,Israel, and to a temple.
David, a man of war, was not, however, to build the First Temple. That task was given to his son Solomon, although David drew up the plans. The fact that other nations had temples and Israel did not is not the reason The First Temple was to be built. The Temple was to be a memorial to Israel to turn her heart away from the idols of the surrounding nations. The Temple would provide them for an incentive not to practice the same evil things as the Canaanites. However, as good as the original intentions for the Temple were, Solomon proved to be a less effective leader than his father. Some of his decisions proved to be unwise and weakened the stability of Israel for along time to come.
Much of the trouble which occurred in Solomon...
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After the magnificent reign of King David, which laid the foundation for a centralized cult, the reign of Solomon stimulated a regression back to pagan beliefs and practices. The temple was built for aesthetic and personal reasons, it seemed, while its religious significance was compromised. The implications of this compromise was that it triggered relapses into paganism and also a sense of religious synchretism which lasted roughly two generations. This period of religious uncertainty was finally ended by reformist kings, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, that implemented policies that would purge the land of paganism and centralize the cult.
Works Cited
Rosovsky, Nitza, ed. City of the Great King . Boston : Harvard UP, 1996.
Alt, A. “The Monarachy in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.” Essays on Old
Testament History and Religion . New York : Oxford UP, 1966.
Albright, William Foxwell . Archeology and the religion of Israel . Baltimore : John’s
Hopkins Press, 1968 .
May, Herbert G. and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The Book of Kings. New Oxford Annotated
Bible. New York : Oxford UP, 1973.
Another subject that was brought up was the land raised and worked by the Palestinian Arabs. Yes, the Arabs had put lots of work into the land to see it being turned over to enemies would be very upsetting. Yet as told by David, some of that land wasn't even touched. Some swamps and deserts have been made into fields and many things of that sort. The other parts of land that was being occupied or owned by Arabs which they bought. Some parts of land they bought were extremely expensive. Daud had then brought up the Western countries and what role they played in this fiasco. The Western countries were to have said of feeling guilty since so many Jews were persecuted. Daud also said that this is how the Jews got their land was because the Western had such great influence on the United Nations decision of giving them land. This could all be very true, but as David put it, they had just want to go to their Holy Land Palestine.
In Ancient Egypt, huge pyramids were created to serve as tombs for pharaohs. I believe that a temple was included for Egyptians to make offerings for their kings. Ancient Egyptians had a belief of Polytheism, meaning that they worshipped their gods, which led them to worship their Pharaohs very much. The Egyptians weren’t the only ones that had the belief of Polytheism. The Ancient Mesopotamia did too have the same belief. I mentioned earlier that the Sumerians and Akkadians rely on their gods. Well, by briefly examining the illustration on Document 6, the size of the temple tells me that the Sumerians placed high value on their gods that they look up to them for their own happiness and prosperity. Polytheism was very important for both civilizations. It contributes to how they govern their civilization.
God is the creator, sustainer, judge, and redeemer. However, the most important characteristic of God is love. Love is an admirable quality. Genesis is an account of God’s magnificent creations. God saw that everything he created was good. The book of Genesis focuses on six persons and their families: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. God blessed man and all of his creations. For a moment, God’s creation was as He intended; paradise. Man sinned and God became unhappy, but he still provided for his people. God wanted man to repent. He still wanted things to be good once again. Noah was of the “few” good people on earth. Noah was obedient and honored God. God wanted to rid the earth of evil and start anew with righteous men and women. God wanted to give people a second chance and that was through Noah. God’s decision to save Noah and his family was, because He still longed for man’s obedience and faithfulness.
Israelite history from about 1200 to 1000 BC is marked by the leadership of the Twelve Judges. The Book of Judges does not give a chronological account of the time between the settlement of Canaan and the rise of the monarchy, but instead tells a series of short accounts of the Judge’s accomplishments. The Twelve Judges served the Hebrew people as tribal leaders, military leaders, arbiters of disputes, and enliveners of faith. After the death of Joshua, the Israelites fell into a cycle of sin, calamity, repentance, and deliverance. The Judges emerged when the Israelites began to fall away from their core religious beliefs by worshipping false Gods. Each time that happened, God sent a Judge to save the Israelites from destruction.
This phrase is later repeated three more times, in Judges 18:1, 19:1, and 21:25. Since the phrase is repeated several times, it emphasizes the need for a king to govern the people and lead them in better ways. The Davidic covenant also exemplifies this positive view, since God showed favor on David and his descendants. God said that King David’s descendants are God’s sons, and that the LORD will establish a “royal throne forever”, as in a line of kings until the end of time (2 Sam. 7:13). God also promises to give David “rest from all your enemies” (2 Sam. 7:11) and a place for his people to live (2 Sam. 7:10). Just like Abraham, King David is promised descendants, blessings, and land. Hezekiah, another good king of Judah, was also viewed favorably. In the LORD’s sight, Hezekiah did what was right, just like David (2 Kgs 18:3). 2 Kings 18: 5 also states that “and neither before nor after [Hezekiah] was there anyone like him among all the kings of Judah.” Unlike Solomon, Hezekiah observed the commandments and thus, “the LORD was with him, and he succeeded in all he set out to do” (2 Kgs 18:7). Therefore, the Deuteronomistic History looks favorably upon kings, since the need for a king is stated multiple times in Judges, and kings like David and Hezekiah are looked upon with favor by God and the people
In the glorious Eighteenth Dynasty, when Egypt became for the first time a world power, a young Pharaoh ascended the throne about 1375 B.C., who first called himself Amenhotep (IV) like his father, but later on changed his name to Akhenaten (1370-1358 B.C.). This king undertook to force upon his subjects a new religion, one contrary to their ancient traditions and to all their familiar habits. It was a strict monotheism, the first attempt of its kind in the history of the world, as far as we know; and religious intolerance, which was foreign to antiquity before this and for long after, was inevitably born with the belief in one god. But Amenhotep’s reign lasted only for seventeen years; very soon after his death in 1358 B.C. the new religion was swept away and the memory of the heretic king proscribed. From the ruins of his new capital, which he had built and dedicated to his god, and from the inscription in the rock tombs belonging to it, we derive the little knowledge we possess of him.1
King David secured the beginnings of a prosperous Israelite empire; he made Jerusalem its capital and brought the Ark of the Covenant there with the hopes of building the First Great Temple for his people. However, it would be his son, King Solomon who would be the one to accomplish this. The Great Temple housed the Ark of the Covenant and also had places to make offerings. Having been nomadic, this temple finally gave the Israelites a stabile place to worship. In fact, the text World Religions by Mary Pat Fisher says that the Israelites looked at this Great Temple as “a central stationary place where God would be most present to them” (Fisher 250). This Temple was a beacon of hope and a place to go where they knew that they would be closer to God.
Senior, Donald, Mary Ann Getty, Carroll Stuhlmueller, and John J. Collins. "The Book of Habakkuk." Catholic Study Bible: The New American Bible. London: Oxford University Press, 1990. 1150-1153. Print.
...f the divine world but the kings were in charge of vocalizing god’s wishes on earth. The most famous of these law codes was Hammurabi’s law code. The Hebrews tried to establish order by using Yahweh’s Ten Commandments and the Torah. Mesopotamian deities were hard to please and easily angered. The Mesopotamians constantly felt they were letting their gods down and usually didn’t even know the reason behind it. Hebrews had a much more forgiving god. Through texts like “The Book of Job”, it is apparent that Yahweh was a tough god but always forgiving and fair in the end. He had few demands of his people and all of them were ethical and easy to adhere to. As long as his devotees followed Yahweh’s laws, they were all capable of receiving his blessings. Through it all, it seemed that God and religion was at the center of every aspect of life in the ancient civilization.
David is the first king that God chooses to lead His people (Saul was chosen by the Israelites). God makes a covenant with him that there will always be a descendant of his on the
The Israelite cult is set apart from other cults in that the people were bound together to worship one God. “The distinctiveness of the Israelite cult is nothing other than the limitation of cultic activity to one particular patron deity” (Anderson, 1987;3). The cult’s foundation of worship centered on those sacrificial gifts and offerings that were given to Yahweh. In addition, the Israelite cults were village centered. In the beginning of the 12th century BC, settlements on the hill country of Judea and Ephraim began to increase in number and density. The farming that took place on these hills allowed Israelites to gain an independent economy from surrounding cult economies (Anderson, 1987;23).
The United Monarchy took place between 1020 and 921 B.C.E. It was the transition between a tribal society and an actual form of government. In this monarchy, Samuel appointed Saul to be the first King. Saul was replaced by King David and eventually was followed by Solomon. This era was the most documented era throughout Biblical history. During this time period, David was God’s right hand man. Jewish people believed that the Messiah was once a living King somewhere in the Davidic bloodline. They believe the Messiah in the Bible was a human King. The word Messiah means “anointed one”. David is the one who brings together loose tribes into a government. He institutes many new things like scribe culture and census records. This becomes known as the prototype for the ideal Jewish monarch. He establishes the city of Jerusalem or the “City of David”. His legacy becomes a major theme in Jewish history. Through him, the First temple was built for worship and for sacrifice in 950 B.C.E. This temple was extremely important to the Jewish people. It was the center for worship and politics for the kingdom of Judah. The Babylonians e...
The Bible takes a unique turn in the book of 1 Samuel, Israel requests the appointment of an earthly king. The prophet Samuel warned them against trading their Divine King for an earthy one. In Matthew 7:13 Jesus told us, “..For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction..,” cautioning believers not to long to be like everyone else.
How did people revere their gods differently among three civilizations? Did they worship with the same general intent? What were gods’ role(s) in people’s lives? A brief exploration into the religions of Egypt, Greece, and the Hebrew people may bring insight to these questions. Although the main idea of higher beings remains constant throughout societies’ religion, their form of presence in people’s lives varies. I will present the relationship between the leaders and the gods, as well as resemblance to monotheism and systems of government.
God’s goodness and mercy far transcends the comprehension of the most brilliant human mind! He “who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth”(Psalm 113:6).Yet in His infinite love for us He stoops down to reveal Himself to us by a multitude of illustration, types, and shadows, so that we may learn to know him. This paper will describe what is meant by the Kingdom of God; examine the religious philosophy of the various sects of Judaism during the Second Temple period: Pharisee, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, describe the religious philosophy and political philosophy of each sects, it will also describe how the Messianic expectation differ from the Messianic role that Jesus presented, and include an exegesis of the temptation of Jesus and how other sects defined the Messiah.